EPTC, MTN ULTIMATUM TO ENSURE SHAREHOLDING

MBABANE – Eswatini Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (EPTC) and Eswatini MTN have six months from today to ensure divestiture of the former’s shareholding.

The Eswatini Communications Commission (ESCCOM), has taken a decision in terms of Section 37 of the Eswatini Communications Commission Act No. 10 of 2013 following the investigation into the joint venture agreement between MTN Eswatini and EPTC.
In a statement published by ESCCOM yesterday, the regulator ordered EPTC to take any action as may be necessary to ensure it divests its ownership in MTN Eswatini within the six months implementation period.

“In the event the parties fail to ensure the divestiture on the lapse of the implementation period, the commission shall convene a hearing to establish whether any party is at fault and, in the event fault can be attributed to any of the parties, consider an appropriate penalty to be imposed,” the statement by Chief Executive Officer Mvilawemphi Dlamini reads.

The commission further ordered the parties to ensure that the restraint period provided for in Clause 18 of the JVA was waived in the interest of the introduction of competition. The waiver was suspended for a period equivalent to the implementation period (six months), after which the waiver shall become effective in the event the parties fail to ensure divestiture of EPTC’s shareholding into Eswatini MTN.

The statement further related that until such time that the parties complete the divestiture; any disputes arising from the enforcement of the JVA shall be reported to it. Following this, it (commission) shall evaluate these on a case by case basis and take such action as may be appropriate.

Submit

“The commission orders EPTC and MTN Eswatini shareholders to submit to it separate reports on the implementation of the decision at the end of the implementation period. For avoidance of any doubt, the commission expects to receive the implementation reports on or before August 7, 2019.”
Further, ESCCOM stated that in respect of penalties to be imposed for non-compliance with legislation, the licence conditions, based on the findings, it would be inappropriate to impose a penalty as the current situation was not completely wrongdoing by the parties.

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